A warrant is generally an order that serves as a specific type of
authorization, that is, a
writ issued by a competent officer, usually a
judge or
magistrate, which permits an otherwise illegal act that would violate
individual rights and affords the person executing the writ protection from
damages if the act is performed.

Contents

United Kingdom

In the
United Kingdom, senior public appointments are made by warrant under the royal sign-manual, the personal
signature of the
monarch, on the recommendation of the government. In an interesting survival from medieval times, these warrants abate (lose their force) on the death of the sovereign if they have not already been executed. This particularly applied to death warrants in the days when
England authorized
capital punishment. Perhaps the most celebrated example of this occurred on 17 November 1558, when several
Protestantheretics were tied to their stakes in
Smithfield, and the firewood bundles were about to be lit when a royal messenger rode up to announce that
Mary I had died and that the warrants had lost their force. The first formal act of Mary's successor,
Elizabeth I, was to decline to re-issue the warrants, and the heretics were released a few weeks later.

United States

History

For many years, the English, later British, government had used a "general warrant" to enforce its laws. These warrants were broad in nature and did not have specifics as to why they were issued or what the arrest was being made for. A general warrant placed almost no limitations on the search or arresting authority of a soldier or sheriff. This concept had become a serious problem when those in power issued general warrants to have their enemies arrested when no wrongdoing had been done. The
Parliament of
Great Britain,[1] passed the Revenue Act of 1767,[2] which reaffirmed the legality of
writs of assistance, or general
search warrants, and gave customs officials broad powers to search houses and businesses for smuggled goods.[3] This law was one of the key acts of the United Kingdom which led to the
American Revolution, and is the direct reason that the
American Founding Fathers ensured that general warrants would be illegal in the United States by ratifying the
Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1791.

Practice

Under the
Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution a warrant is broadly required which particularly describes the place to be searched, and the persons, or things, to be seized; and no warrants shall be issued, but upon probable cause, supported by testimony before a judge.

The courts have recognized many
exceptions to the warrant requirement, including exceptions for routine administrative or inventory searches, searches made under exigent circumstances, and searches made with consent.[4]

A typical arrest warrant in the
United States will take the approximate form of: "This Court orders the
Sheriff or Constable to find the named person, wherever he may be found, and deliver said person to the custody of the Court." Generally, a U.S. arrest warrant must contain the
caption of the court issuing the warrant, the name (if known) of the person to be arrested, the offense charged, the date of issue, the officer(s) to whom the warrant is directed, and the signature of the magistrate.[5]
Warrants may also be issued by other
government entities, including
legislatures, since most have the
power to compel the attendance of their members. When a legislature issues a warrant, it is called a
call of the house.

The person being investigated, arrested, or having their property seized, pursuant to a warrant is given a copy of the warrant at the time of its execution.

References

^ The Revenue Act of 1767 was 7 Geo. III ch. 46; Knollenberg, Growth, 47; Labaree, Tea Party, 270n12. It is also known as the Townshend Revenue Act, the Townshend Duties Act, and the Tariff Act of 1767.